Archive for the ‘Video’ Category

A week in on the new year I’d figured it was time to create something new, right? Well, good thing yesterday evening was one of those brilliant creative bouts that don’t happen too damn often, but still thrills me to no end when “they fall right in your lap” like I prefer to call it.

Pretty much taking a break from some soundtrack work, I decided to toy around with this so-so kinda horn section sample and the next thing you know the tentatively titled Funky Simian jumped out of me. Adding a nice funk rhythm to it I figured I wanted to go kinda surf-ish with the whole thing – but using Casio keyboards instead of guitars. It turned out kinda groovy and quirky with a nice “cool” vibe, for lack of a better word.

Having the track roughly 80% finished I was so psyched by the results last night that I decided to create a teaser video using some old sexploitation trailer in order to share it. Taken from Lou Campa‘s 1968 Sock It to Me, Baby – released by Something Weird Video, natch! – it’s a nice sort of tribute to Mike Vraney. Roughly a minute long, so check it out on YouTube and spread the word.

With the recent review of Call Me Greenhorn‘s L’Isola dei Morti Viventi in Rue Morgue magazine – and there’s more to come, natch – I decided to create something visual in order to spread the word online. With the track Invasion of the Dead (Main Theme 2) actually being inspired by the final, church-storming sequence in Lucio Fulci‘s Zombie Flesh-Eaters (aka Zombie 2) it wasn’t that hard to figure out what imagery to use, so I popped my German bootleg *cough* DVD into my new video editor and got to work.

As an added bonus I decided to see how effective the track A Feast on Flesh would be set to the zombie-munching sequence of said movie and it turned out pretty cool as well. A couple of quick edits – unlike Fulci I chose not to start with a gory visual punch, opting for revealing more carnage as the scene progressed instead – and it was done. Consider it a bonus. A NSFW bonus.

Now that’s a wedding band! The brilliant Saturday Night Live skit Band Reunion at the Wedding sees comedians Fred Armisen and Bill Hader team up with Ashton Kutcher and David Grohl as the fictional hardcore band Crisis of Conformity performing their anthem Fist Fight! at Fred’s daughter’s wedding.

In an interview with Papermag, Fred – who’s an old punker that played drums in Trenchmouth and handled vocals in the KGB – admitted both the skit and the song itself was a tribute to Black Flag and Hüsker Dü. “The idea behind it was to write a love letter to my teenage years, to all the bands that I grew up listening to.” Yeah, I figured the “Cadena-Norton” sign was more than a weird coincidence.

The skit (and song) became a cult hit and Fred later on recorded the track on his own for a 7″ release on Drag City. Check it out below and get your copy here.

Check out the new Call Me Greenhorn EP entitled Cutthroats at Midnight. With a total of seven tracks, it’s a mini-OST with a murder theme (insert evil laugh if wanted). The title track was written for UK photographer Robert Boud‘s video project The Modern Day Holocaust and mixes John Carpenter with a Jamaican dub feel in the King Tubby vein. An additional six tracks was added – including what I call a “Moog Mayhem” version of the title track! Get it here.

As an added bonus I’m joining the Black Friday craziness! Starting today you’ll get a 40% discount on all my releases. Just enter the code “Sovac” during checkout to get it. The offer expires on Monday December 2nd at 11:59pm UTC.

Things are moving along quite nicely in the Adventures of Superseven camp! The latest episode Operation: Hard Kill in Fresno was released a couple of days ago, offering up some nice puns and silly action. Got some cool music as well courtesy me (The Fez) and The Jimmy C, including his cover of Superseven Chase Theme that I provided some moog and other weird noises for.

Speaking of which, Robert Griffth sent me an email hepping me that the all-new blooper reel for the show has been made available on YouTube (check below), and the series was recently made official selection at the 2014 Rome Web Awards (yay!). Check out their official website here.

Well, this is pretty damn cool: Just got hepped to the works of Peter Ahern and Amy Pisco (aka Optic Candy) and you gotta check this out. A perfect juxtaposition of cute and disturbing (kinda like my dates, ha ha ha), the couple (?) focus on mainly animation with some cool artwork thrown in for good measure.

Their portfolio is pretty impressive with works done for Nickelodeon, The Walking Dead and a French yoghurt manufacturer I’m not too sure people in the States have heard of. Check out their blog at http://opticcandy.wordpress.com and their official YouTube channel here. How about a show reel?

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Well, here’s something that’s both funny and cute: Union Pool‘s series Bunnies. Created and produced by Jennifer Shiman, these animated shorts re-enacts various films in one minute or less – with an all bunny cast.

It’s online! The video for Robert Boud‘s new project The Modern Day Holocaust featuring Call Me Greenhorn‘s Cutthroats at Midnight. Now, I already stated my opinion on this, so here’s what Robert had to say about it:

The images display the horrors the Jewish people went through all those years ago, but does so by showing other faiths in their place and with them. The reason being, is that this could have happened to any faith and still could if we don’t put a stop to persecution and racism. To give things a more modern perspective and a greater sense of how this MAY be relevant to today’s society it features some political symbolism you should recognise.

Well, as I just finished watching the video for Robert Boud‘s series The Holocaust twice, I found myself utterly speechless by the results. Ironically enough it gave me the urge to say something, or at least try to sum up how watching it made me feel. And analyzing that makes me realize we’re onto something pretty damn good here. When was the last time something gave you goosebumps?

I know I jest with the “art is the enemy” tag – my problem has never been with “art” per se, but rather some of the ridiculous pretensions that comes along with it – as I feel that true art should affect you in some way or another. Either make you angry, or laugh, or – as in this case – render you utterly speechless with its visceral power. After the initial viewing all I could muster up was a quiet, mumbly “wow”. This is as dark, ugly, and vicious as the insanities that took place in Europe 70 years ago. It’s like a punch in the gut, a kick in the balls, affirming me that at such a young age, Robert’s already onto creating something that truly grabs you.

The video is some damn powerful stuff and I found myself holding my breath towards the end of it – and I’m familiar with both the song and the imagery, ha ha ha. I’m looking forward to Robert making it official so I can share it with you guys. ‘Til then you should join him on Facebookhere.

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Oh man, do I wish I’d stumbled across this video in time for August 18! A friend in New York hepped me to stelos485 (sorry, couldn’t find any name) who creates various cartoon music videos for bands like The Beatles and Bad Brains, but most importantly The Ramones!

This is sheer fan-boy joy to watch! There’s a Bedrock version of Listen To My Heart, a Twilight Zone-inspired I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement (you’ve seen the movie Don’t Go Down in the Basement btw?), Judy is a Punk, and – my personal fave – a grindhouse version of Chain Saw that sees the bruddahs smack-dab in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre going head to head with the Sawyer family!